Hamilton College Dean of Faculty Suzanne Keen announced the death of Professor of Chemistry Emeritus Leland “Bud” Cratty, Jr. in an email to the Hamilton community on May 30.
Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,
I am writing with sad news. Professor of Chemistry Emeritus Leland “Bud” Cratty Jr. died Monday, less than a week after his wife, Peggy, also passed away.
Bud received his bachelor’s degree from Beloit College in 1952 with honors in chemistry, and his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1957. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate and Sigma Xi while at Brown. After working as a research chemist for Linde Company in Tonawanda, N.Y., he joined the Hamilton faculty as an assistant professor in 1958. Bud taught courses in inorganic and analytical chemistry, and his research interests included super ionic conduction in solids; surface chemistry and catalysis, particularly at metal and alloy surfaces; and rates of adsorption at very low pressures.
Bud published his work in the Journal of Chemical Physics, The Encyclopedia of Chemistry, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and received funding from the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society to work as a visiting fellow at the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh. He also worked as a chemist at the Ames Lab for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and was a visiting scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. He served on several committees for the College, taught as part of the HEOP summer program, and was secretary-treasurer of the local chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. He and Peggy were involved in the founding of the Clinton A Better Chance program in 1972, for which they both served in leadership roles.
Bud retired in 1996, after 38 years of teaching on College Hill. A funeral for Bud and Peggy will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, at St. James Episcopal Church on Williams Street in Clinton.
